host: stephen dinan was the the politics editor at the washington times. he covered the legislature in virginia. he has a bachelor's from the university of virginia. in the new york times this morning, there was an article with the headline, boehner finds the speaker's chair can be lonely. republicans fell 20 votes short of those needed to pass mr. boehner's bill that would make permanent musharraf tax cuts for households under $1 million per year -- make permanent the bush tax cuts for households under $1 million per year. the republican team could not bring enough members on board even though many of those who declined to support the measure told republican leadership that they secretly hoped it would pass. ixion's like some of these guys -- the speaker and the majority -- it sounds like some of these guys who the speaker and the majority leader thought they had the support of were talking out of both sides of their mouths. yes and they were hoping they would not have to take the -- guest: they were hoping they would not have to take the that vote to mak